DHL Global Connectedness Index 2014

DHL Global Connectedness Index 2014
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Global connectedness is more limited than many presume—as
described in the previous chapter—and also
varies widely among countries. This chapter compares
countries’ and regions’ global connectedness. First,
countries’ overall levels of connectedness are ranked and
analyzed, followed by shorter discussions of the depth
and breadth of their connectedness. Second, countries’
depth scores are compared to predictions based on their
structural characteristics. Third, changes from 2011 to 2013
in countries’ levels of connectedness are shown, and the
countries whose connectedness increased or decreased the
most are highlighted. Fourth, regions’ levels and patterns
of connectedness are compared and discussed.
Readers wishing to examine trends over time should
review the scores and ranks computed for this edition of
the index, which are provided back to 2005 (see Tables A.1
to A.3 in Appendix A), rather than comparing this year’s
report with prior editions. There are three reasons for this:
First, this report incorporates the latest revisions to the
source data underlying the index, including the replacement
of estimated with actual values as they have become
available. Second, four countries that were included in
the 2012 edition (Chad, Guinea, Malawi, and Togo) are
not included in this year’s index due to data availability
constraints. They have been replaced by the Republic of
the Congo, the Gambia, Papua New Guinea, and Suriname,
and all ranks and scores have been recomputed based on
this new set of countries covered. Third, comparing results
across years within a single edition of this report rather
than across editions is consistent with the technical requirements
of the normalization method used to compute
the index, as described in Chapter 5.
2014 Scores and Rankings
Figure 2.1 displays the overall 2014 DHL Global Connectedness
Index scores and ranks, and highlights the
composition of each country’s score based on the depth
and breadth of its connectedness. For pillar level scores and
ranks, please refer to Figures A.1 to A.4 in Appendix A.
As described in Chapter 5, depth and breadth are both
scored on a scale from 0 to 50, so that when they are added
together, overall global connectedness is measured on a
scale from 0 to 100.
The top 10 ranks on the 2014 DHL Global Connectedness
Index are held, in descending order, by the Netherlands,
Ireland, Singapore, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland,
United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden. The
countries that fall to the bottom of the rankings are, in
ascending order, Syrian Arab Republic, Central African
Republic, Uzbekistan, Burundi, Benin, Myanmar, Islamic
Republic of Iran, Rwanda, Niger, and Lao People’s Democratic
Republic.
This juxtaposition of the countries with the highest and
the lowest ranks suggests some obvious effects of levels of
economic development and geographic locations on global
connectedness. The top 10 are all among the world’s most
advanced economies in terms of per capita income, human
development, and other metrics. And 9 of the top 10 are
located in Europe. In contrast, 5 of the bottom 10 countries
are located in Sub-Saharan Africa and all of them are
classified as low or lower middle income countries by the
World Bank. 1
The rough generalizations implied by looking at the highest
and lowest ranked countries reflect patterns that also show
up in statistical analysis across all countries and highlight
important structural influences on countries’ levels of connectedness.
In fact, three economic and geographic factors
alone can explain more than 68% of the variation among
countries’ global connectedness scores: GDP per capita,
remoteness, and population. The details of the statistical
(regression) analysis described in this chapter are covered
in Tables B.3 and B.4 in Appendix B.